Friday, 26 January 2018

Rice University Business Plan Graduate-level Student Startup Competition 2018 ($1.5 million in Cash and Prizes)

Application Deadline: 5:00 pm CST, Friday, February 9, 2018.

The Rice Business Plan Competition is the world’s richest and largest graduate-level student startup competition. It is hosted and organized by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship,which is Rice University’s internationally-recognized initiative devoted to the support of entrepreneurship, and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. This is the 17th year for the competition. In that time, it has grown from nine teams competing for $10,000 in prize money in 2001, to 42 teams from around the world competing for more than $1.5 million in cash and prizes.

The competition is designed to give collegiate entrepreneurs a real-world experience to fine tune their business plans and elevator pitches to generate funding to successfully commercialize their product. Judges will evaluate the teams as real-world entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early stage investors and venture capital firms. The judges are asked to rank the presentations based on which company they would most likely invest. 76% of judges surveyed considered investing in a team that presented at the 2016 RBPC or referred a team to a third-party investor.

Highlights of the Competition include:

Real-world opportunities to learn what’s required to successfully launch a new business

Chance to receive mentoring from investors and experienced entrepreneurs

Scheduled opportunities to network with potential venture capitalists and other investors for three days

High caliber of judges, all senior level investors, entrepreneurs and industry leaders

Opportunities to receive individual feedback during three separate sessions

2016: $1.7 Million + in prize money was awarded with all teams winning at least one cash award

The goal of the RBPC is to provide the best overall educational and entrepreneurial experience of any business plan/new venture competition and we were very gratified by the feedback we have received from past competitors and judges.

Benefits:

RBC provide an intense, immersive experience over the course three days for student startup founders to pitch to investors, receive multiple rounds of feedback and advance their startup.

There will be over $1 million in prizes, and all 42 teams who compete at Rice University in Houston are guaranteed to win cash prizes.

The minimum cash prize is $500 and the grand prize winner receives a $300,000 investment (typically in the form of a convertible debt note, with out geographic restrictions.)

HOW TO ENTER

Submit your application online at www.rbpc.rice.edu

If you have questions about any aspect of the competition, please contact Catherine Santamaria, RBPC Director, at [email protected]

One member of your team, the designated team leader, should complete the simple online application.